The British Empire and the Second World WarIn 1939 Hitler went to war not just with Great Britain; he also went to war with the whole of the British Empire, the greatest empire that there had ever been. In the years since 1945 that empire has disappeared, and the crucial fact that the British Empire fought together as a whole during the war has been forgotten. All the parts of the empire joined the struggle and were involved in it from the beginning, undergoing huge changes and sometimes suffering great losses as a result. The war in the desert, the defence of Malta and the Malayan campaign, and the contribution of the empire as a whole in terms of supplies, communications and troops, all reflect the strategic importance of Britain's imperial status. Men and women not only from Australia, New Zealand and India but from many parts of Africa and the Middle East all played their part. Winston Churchill saw the war throughout in imperial terms. The British Empire and the Second World War emphasises a central fact about the Second World War that is often forgotten. |
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... sent to Governors throughout the Empire . There were general guidelines for the control of imports into the colonies to save shipping and materials , for the encouragement of colonial exports to earn foreign exchange , for the control ...
... sent to the Seychelles in April 1941 to defend poten- tial landing places with rifles and Bren guns . Port Victoria was defended from Pointe Conan by two elderly six - inch guns recently installed after their removal from HMS Gnat ...
... sent to the Far East , though Churchill was at the time pressing to have twenty squadrons sent to Iraq and Syria . What this all meant was that there were insufficient air forces available to protect the capital ships at sea , to ...